Focus session · brainstorming · 25 min
25-minute focus session for brainstorming with a fireplace, if you are new to this
25 minutes on brainstorming — quantity before quality. One pomodoro, long enough to get somewhere and short enough to start.
25:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Let your belly be soft. Not sucked in. Just soft. Nothing here assumes you have done this before. Follow the instructions and let the rest look after itself.
1 Before you start
- Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
- Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
- Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
- If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
- Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
2 While the timer runs
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
- If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
3 When it ends
- Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
- Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
- Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
4What to put on
a fireplace — Crackles and a low roar underneath. Warm, irregular, and undemanding.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.